Disjointed Imago Dei (Image of God)- Relational Capital Part 1

Disjointed Imago Dei (Image of God)- Relational Capital Part 1

If I had to base by participation in Christendom on Christians, I would become an atheist.

The consistency of disunity plagues the body of Christ as a whole and disguises itself as friendly rebuke or being biblical. But it appears that the context of those statements only work when they are being spewed from one’s lips instead of being displayed in practical living. There is this misconception that if the doctrine is right then the behavior will model the doctrinal stance. Well, that sounds good and packaged but people are not as structured as they would have all to believe. What we get many times are folks who can communicate doctrine but have no relational capabilities whatsoever. They understand Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic but can not exegete the context where they serve.

It grieves me to see many Christians so eager to reprove without having relational authority of any kind. I have been guilty of this very thing many times in my life but I see the danger in such behavior. Relational capital allows me the leverage to understand your vocabulary before I label you as wrong. So through relationship, I have an opportunity to see you and learn your contextual essence before I say you are wrong. It is within these delicate rooms of theology that the Gospel becomes soiled in the lives of the believer. There is not animosity or discord because the relationship avails me to the understanding of your vocabulary.

Does this subvert the usage of the Gospel?-By no means. The Gospel is a relational narrative practiced in context with real, live characters. It is not the sum total of a rhetorical speech, laden with hermeneutical cosmetics to attract the unbelievers. Yes we preach, teach, rebuke and reprove but not just for the sake of displaying some pseudo-orthodoxy, we do it out of relational commitment that was first developed with Christ. If my relationship with him is solid, I re-image that relationship with others. I treat them with the same love and honor that was given to me when I did not deserve it from God.

The problem is that we have morphed our spiritual walk with God into a business plan that concludes with a success or fail agenda. Evangelical Christianity has become the spiritual prototype of the corporate world. There is more concern for numerical growth than growth in discipleship. Though I understand the reasoning for such actions the outcomes are tenuous. They have become priority for some with blatant disregard for the guidance of Holy Spirit. A plan has become fail proof and stacked upon equal footing with the will of God.

I conclude that a crooked/warp image of God leads to a dangerous pretext, context and post-text. The church has fallen prey to such a mishap where everyone anoints themselves as the epitome of truth and refuses to listen to others. This presents a disfigured-disjointed image of God- if we are truly the imago dei (image of God).